Young Drifter

Raised off the grid and orphaned at 11, Atticus lives through more than one rough patch over the course of Tom Gilroy’s “The Cold Lands.” This becalmed film, which was partly shot in a woodsy part of New York State, fails to crystallize until Atticus attaches himself to a dude who sells homemade trinkets.

We meet the well-mannered Atticus (Silas Yelich) when he’s living with his overprotective, home-schooling mother (Lili Taylor) in humble circumstances. He is just learning to stand up to her when she dies. Taught to suspect the authorities and accustomed to living without power, he flees into the forest during the film’s middle, occasionally dreamlike, portion. When he falls in with Carter (Peter Scanavino), a Baja-sweater-wearing drifter with a kind heart, he finds security in decent company but also a continuation of hand-to-mouth living.

Mr. Scanavino makes his stoner character a relatable human being who sticks to his guns even when he’s not sure where that autonomy will lead him. That’s a common predicament in the film’s rural milieu, which treats its varieties of independent-minded characters — including the confused, overwhelmed but resilient Atticus — with understanding. (Mr. Gilroy’s last feature film, in 2000, was the sensitively acted “Spring Forward,” starring Ned Beatty and Liev Schreiber.)

But Mr. Yelich is even more emotionally reticent than this central character requires, and “The Cold Lands” feels as if it were just taking hold when it reaches the end of the road.